This photo is a perfect summation of my family. I'm pretty sure my sister is pinching my butt, I'm trying to smack her, my sister and I are losing it, and my mom and dad can do nothing but laugh at their amazingly beautiful and wonderful daughters. (Am I laying it on a little thick??)
It's my first official Mother's Day. Although, to be honest, I've felt like a mother for a couple of years now (since we started the adoption process in December 2013). Some people would argue that you're not a mom unless you've got a kid in your house, but humanity also used to burn people at the stake for teaching the world was round. This post has taken a dark turn, but all of that to say, people are wrong sometimes. Being a mom has many different facets, some of which do not involve children at all!
Mother's Day is complicated when you've adopted. It's not lost on me that my son has had two women he called mother in his life before me. The title of mother is something I fight for daily. But the fight makes the victories so much sweeter—when he sits in my lap or lets me hug him longer than a second. I am thankful to be Tisetso's mother. It is a gift I do not deserve.
Becoming a mother further solidified in my heart how wonderful my mom is. I am over and over again thankful she managed to find ways to love and support the crazy, hot mess that I was growing up. (Let's be honest, I can still be that way!) She had to put up with my sister and I and still make dinner and keep our house from falling apart. There have been times since we've gotten back that I've wondered how she did it all! She's a saint.
Whether you've got a child in your home calling you mom, or your heart is given to a child you are waiting for or are mourning the loss of, I hope and pray today would be a sweet blessing to you.